It is well known that crops such as corn and soybeans grow best in soil that is loose, rich in nutrients, and free of debris. After a crop is harvested, the soil is often compacted, depleted of nutrients, and full of crop residue and other debris. To restore the soil to optimal conditions, the soil is often tilled immediately before planting. Tilling is also known as cultivating or plowing (also spelled “ploughing”). The soil may also be tilled immediately after harvest. The conventional method of tillage is to treat the entire field. More recently, it has become popular to treat only the narrow strips of soil that will contain the seed rows. This method of tillage is commonly known as strip tillage or zone tillage. Strip tillage saves time and energy and reduces erosion.
Strip tillage is performed by driving a tractor through the field pulling a wheeled toolbar to which multiple implements are attached. The implements are commonly known as row units. The implements are spaced apart to correspond to the seed rows that will be planted. Each implement clears crop residue and other debris with cleaning disks, creates a trench (also known as a furrow) in the soil with a knife (also known as a blade) into which the seeds are deposited if planting is being conducted, and then fills in the trench with closing disks to create a raised berm where the trench had been formed. Many implements also include one or more tamping wheels at the rear that tamp the berm to the desired density and cross section. Tamping wheels on farm implements are sometimes known as reels, rollers, or compactors.
A variety of tillage implements containing tamping wheels have been disclosed. Such tillage implements are disclosed in Kovach et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,761,120, Jul. 13, 2004; Knobloch, U.S. Pat. No. 6,871,709, Mar. 29, 2005; and Ankenman, U.S. Pat. No. 7,866,270, Jan. 11, 2011. The Knobloch et al. tamping wheel contains a plurality of concave bars having a shape that creates a desired cross section for the berm. The Knobloch et al. tamping wheel is not adjustable.
Although a variety of tamping wheels are known, there continues to be a demand for an improved tamping wheel. More particularly, there is a demand for a tamping wheel that is easily adjustable to form a berm having a desired cross section over a recently filled trench.